The Good the Bad and the Burned

I Burned dinner last night :( Spicy Meat with Peas


BUT. . . I made up for it tonight :) Teriyaki Salmon

Home from Japan

John is home from his business trip today. Yay. And he came home bearing gifts!!!!


The boys got light saber chop sticks. John also got the boys a game that helps you practice using chop sticks. It's kind of like a chess board then you pick up little bean people and put them in the squares. It's all in Japanese so John will have to sit and decipher it for them.



Today we are all wearing our new t-shirts.


John also brought home some pastry's. They are little banana shaped sponge cakes filled with banana custard. I think they must be quite well known as someone from John's work requested a box.


AND John bought me the most beautiful silk kimono! I love it!!!!


This has been one of his longer trips in a while. Seemed like everything went wrong while he was gone. But now he is home and we are all very happy. The boys seemed to have missed him more this trip to.

Really Hot Coffee

I just blew up a cup of coffee in the microwave!? The mug is fine but the coffee is all over the inside of the microwave. I guess the microwave did not like that mug, LOL

Getting There

I'm about 40% done with the pink shawl for Mrs. V. but I am going to put it aside for the weekend and work on my scarf. It will be the perfect weight for fall. I'd like to say I will be done with it soon but Sunday is going to be busy. The boys and I are going to the Art & Wine festival at Almanden Lake. We are going to sell popcorn with our Boy Scout Troop (234).

Here is Mrs. V's scarf


And my scarf. I love the colors. I am so excited about wearing it!!


Woot!!! And dinner was muy muy delish ;)

Adventures in Traveling

John encountered a special bathroom in the Tokyo Airport.

Let the Music Play

We've got our own little brass section going on.



Maxwell decided he did want to be in band so we went to get him a trumpet today.

Birthday Weekend

It's John's birthday! On his actual birthday John was not feeling so well so we only had some ice cream.



Saturday he was better and I made banana cake and we went out for dinner :)

My projects are going well. I am about 30% done with the Shawl.


I also have one curtain tie done. Now I just need to make two more.


It will take me a while to finish the curtain tie pattern but I do plan on putting it up on the patterns page eventually.

Do I fit?

Loops & Bobbles

I'm done with the loops and bobbles for the curtain tie. The tie is being blocked. It should be done tomorrow.




I can't decided weather to start the shawl today or work on my scarf. I'll think on it.

Knitting Knitting Knitting and more

I have several large projects going on right now and I am about to start another AND I decided I would try my hand at developing a pattern. I'm a nutter for sure especially since for the past 5 days I have been sick :|

Okay here we gooooooooooo Wait . . .

I had to eat breakfast before I continued on with what will be a very large entry when John and I started talking. My question now is, "What can you do in a year?"

We are in the midst of refinancing our home and John brought up the fact that with a 30 year fixed loan we will be 70 when we are done with the loan. Woah woah slow down there, what, 70. How can that be? Oh right, I am nearly 40 now. Woah hold on what! I am 40. When the hell did that happen? What have I been doing all that time? Growing up, learning, getting married, having babies and then growing them up and teaching them. Sprinkle in there some doing things I've never done before and doing what I always do and you have life.

For a very short time I was very upset and scared. But due to a mostly irritating but at the moment wonderful infirmity called ADHD my mind easily is lead to a new thought ;)

30 years is nearly as much time as I have already had. It is like living the life I have lived over again. That is a ton of time. So what will I do in that time? With half the time? With a year?

I don't know, I will keep you posted :)

On to knitting . . . Take 2 (heh, see how the adhd sneaks in)

I am making a blanket for Derek. He wants it big so this project will take a while. As you can see it is barely lap sized.




Then there's the blanket for no one. It's a Mindless Knitting While You Watch John Play Games Scrap Blanket. Dang that's a long name. Hmm how about Mkwywjpgs Blanket. LOL. Maybe not.
Basically the way it works is you collect all your scrap yarn balls and put them into a bag you can't see through. Then as you go, you pull out a ball without looking at the color. Hopefully this makes a not well thought out colorful blanket ;)



For myself I am making a pink shawl. It's more like a substantial neck scarf really. The yarn I am using was a birthday gift from a dear friend. She and her husband happened on a wool festival on the way home from vacation. When she saw the yarn she said it reminded her of me. Awwwww isn't that sweet. The yarn is solar dyed. I'm not sure how exactly that is done but I love the color.



John mentioned needing some kind of tie for our living room curtains. I agree. I thought to myself, well I can knit something! Better yet I could write and publish my first pattern!! I mean it's not like I am busy doing anything :/ This is where the biting off more then you can chew comes into play, heh. Thankfully it is a very small pattern so it's not to bad. I have enjoyed the development process although it is taking longer then I thought. I started out in my mind deciding what I wanted it to look like. Then I went to Ravelry and searched for a like minded pattern. Once the finished product took shape in my head I charted it on the computer. I then wrote out the chart instructions and started to knit. This is the tricky part. As I knit I could see where I had made mistakes. I ripped it out re-worked the chart and instructions then started again. After 5 revisions I got it spot on. I am now working on the first draft of a completely written pattern, this includes yarn type, needle size, gauge, etc., while my test curtain tie is blocking.



My final project is a large shawl for Mr. V's mother-in-law. She get's chilled in the evenings and Mr.V asked if I would knit her a shawl. Of course I would do that! LOL I've got to fill that year up with something ;) All kidding aside one of my favorite things to do is knit. I love doing it and what better way to share what I love. They brought me huge amounts of yarn (which I drooled over) and I gave them 4 patterns to look over and choose. She wanted something simple and decided on a rectangular shawl with a cable running the length. I have not started yet but plan to in the next couple of days.